MATCHBOX WAR || LAFAYETTE

{don't touch me}

     "I say we go out to celebrate your return, Ellis," states Mulligan. "A pub, most likely." Ellis grabs her overcoat. "Sounds like a plan, Mullie."

     The rest of the guys agree to go out, grabbing their coats shaking off the rest of their sleep. Ellis grabs Mulligan and pulls him through the flap of the tent. Shockingly enough, men still stand around, gawking at her and Mulligan. A few men wolf-whistle and Ellis holds back on profanities. The men should've been ashamed.

     The bar was no different. Men of all ages gawk at her figure. Hamilton excuses himself to order their drinks and the rest of us found a secluded corner to sit. "So," Laurens starts, "how'd you meet Mulligan?"

     Ellis smirks at the question while Hercules groans. "You couldn't've let us get tipsy first?" Ellis giggles. "What do you want to know, Laurens?"

     "Anything at all, Missus Jameson."

     "Well, Mister Laurens. I met Mister Mulligan in a bar. He was on his sixth bought of whiskey and I was the barmaid," something glimmers in her eyes. "Let me tell you, men. Mister Mulligan couldn't hold his liquor very well back then. He was completely gone, drunk off his arse." The men snicker while Mulligan covers his face. By this time, Hamilton returns with our drinks and sits to listen to her words. "He flirted with the other barmaids, a horrible flirt he was. And by the time he was on his eighth glass, he couldn't form a coherent sentence." Ellis pauses to take a swig of her own whiskey at that point.

     "He stumbled up to me to ask for another when he fell. Right down in front of me, passed out." She chuckles. The men start on their second glasses of whiskey. "When he did come to, however, the first words he asks are, 'Why are you staring at me as if I had passed out?'" Ellis laughs and the men join her, heat rises to the surface of Mulligan's skin. "And from that day on, Mulligan and I have been the best of friends. I'll spare Mulligan the embarrassment of the later details." 

     Ellis pulls herself from the group. "Let me get the next round," she speaks when Lafayette stands to argue. He sits back down when she gives him a look. 

     At the bar counter, as she waits, an obviously drunk man approaches her. He grabs at her waist and she pushes him away, uncomfortable. "C'mon, baby. Let me show you to a good time." Repulsed, she replies with a calm and steady voice, "No thank you, mister. You should sober up and return to your wife." The silver band wrapped around his ring finger on his left hand a dead giveaway to the fact that his wife was not aware of his doings. The man's attacks were relentless and futile. She grew impatient. "Sir," she said sharply. The bar grew quiet. "If you do not remove your hands from my person, I will be forced to resort to violence." He scoffed. "Oh yeah?" He questioned, "What could a small girl like you do?" From the corner of her eye, Ellis spots her friends getting up to aid her in any way that she might need. "I bet you couldn't even hurt me, whore."

     That was it. Half blinded by fury, Ellis drew back her arm. She released a punch that went flying into his face, effectively breaking his nose and shattering his pride. "Never speak to a woman like that again. Especially never like that to a soldier." Ellis calmly grabbed her coat from the front door and exited the establishment. The rest of the group soon followed after seeing the man's murderous glare toward the door. They knew that the man wouldn't forget that, but they also knew that Ellis wouldn't regret it.

{edited}